Commercial certificate



N. R. JESUP.

COMMERCIAL CERTIFICATE. APPLICATION mso inc. 2. 191:.

1,3 1 1,698. Patented July 29, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

MERCHANTS PROFIT-SHARING CORPORATION BANK cou o w CHECK l uuum W mum nod MERCHANT 5 PROFIT-SHARING CORPORATION olammd li-om h t suing Inca coupons or Iron: abovl hunk 7 Merchants! "ml-Snail: Wm,

57AM roan. CONN- Janna 9 SWIVA m3 snvu. 1m: couPON CHECK Thig Bunk Coupon Check Pennant; uul'chnse on which JHUQF'H'OZ {on hgzekbecen nllowud five per mm dismnm when you J ave n oupous to l e amount 0 one dallnr. the hank nmntd reon will act the Bank Cnupom sum is mm when we If lhen Is not a bank in your [own (or thy! tondurtln our menu of saving; account Send the Snvmgs Ger'lifitilh Flaw mail n: ma hank named on me from ad IN:

MERCHANTS PROFIT-8 HARING CORPORA 3 STAM l-Oll D, CONN.

1 rm mu THE COLUMBIA PLANCIGRAFII Cm. WASHINGTON, D. c.

UNITED STATES P TENT OFFICE.

NELSON R msur, or s'rmronm, connnc'rrour, LSSIGITOR. 'ro mnncmuvrs rRorrr SHARING coRPoRArIoN, on NEW YORK, n. Y., A. CORPORATION or new YORK.

COMMERCIAL CERTIFICATE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 29, 1919.

Application filed December 2, 1915. Serial No. 64,686.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Nansen R. Jnsur, a citizen of the United States, residing at Stamford, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Commercial Certificates, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying'drawing.

This invention relates to commercial certificates.

It com rises a profit sharing coupon or element which represents a predetermined discountsuch as a cash d1scounton a sale or other transaction, as distinguished from a premium certificate in the ordinary acceptance of the term) and an associable sheet or element adapted to carry portions of the coupon and become a bankable instrumentahty.

Its primary object is the production of an associable coupon and a bankable instrumentality which will each be of simple form and use of which will be easily understood by users, and without necessitating the employment of an elaborate or complicated system of accountin by distributors and tend to stimulate cash uyingand to increase bank savings accounts.

The coupons, comprising a component including a check and a deposit certificate unit, are issued from a central organization, such as a bank, to merchants, who in turn present them to purchasers in denominations representing the rate and amount of a discount on a given transaction. The bank coupon or deposit slip is detached from the check component and plwcedin a a coupon book representing fractional portions of a deposit slip, and when the amount of such fractional portions assumes a predetermined total, the sheet or. slip thus formed becomes a de osit or savings certificate accepted by the ank as a cash deposit.

Othero ects and advantages attained by the inventlon will be brought out more clearly in the description which follows:

Drawings illustratm an embodiment of the invention, which willserve to illustratc its ractical application, are hereto ap pen ed, the fol owing views being shown:

Figure 1 is a plan viewrshowinfi an agroupment of the coupons or .certi cates 1n ook form, together with a front view of one of the coupons.

6 directed to the value %igs. 4 and 5 are detailed views of deposit,

sli s used in conjunction with coupons.

eferring specifically to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates generally a profit sharing coupon embodying one component ofi my invention. It comprises a body portion or bank coupon check 2, and a detachable portion 3, which represents a bank coupon or fractional portion of the deposit or savings certificate. The body portion bears arbitrarily selected characters designating its value in amounts corresponding to predetermined percentages of discount on sales. These characters are printed, impressed, or otherwise placed thereon in any convenient manner, such identification being in the present embodiment, designated by the numeral 4.

There are also provided on the body portion instructions or directions 5 as to the use of the coupons. In the present instance they are as follows:

MERCHANTS PROFIT-SHARING CORPORATION BANK Couron CHECK.

thereon, be accepted same as cash on your savings account at the V (Citizens"Savings Bank, Stamford, Conn.) Merchants Profit-Sharing Certificates can be obtained from merchant issuing these coupons or from above hank.

MERCHANTS Pnorrr-Snnmno' CORPORATION,

STAMFORD, CONN.

Similarly, upon another portion of the coupon check there are provided instruction thereof as 'follows:

Cash value 5 cents upon conditions named hereon.". A V y I Means for permitting ready detachment of the bank coupon or deposit certificate unit from the body portion, are provided. Such means, in the present instance, are represente as a series of lines of perforations 7 extending diagonally between the two porlions. Upon this stub or detachable portion are designations 8 representing the unit value of the coupon, and designations 9 represt-lilting a number corresponding to a bank account number. All inscription embodying this information is placed thereon as follows:

5 cent bank coupon. No. 100. Cut coupon off here.

The detachinp of the bank coupon or deposit certificate cancels the bank coupon check.

Upon the opposite face of the certificate there is provided an inscription 10 as follows:

SAVE THIS CoUroN Cnnon.

This Bank Coupon Check represents a purchase on which you have been allowed a five per cent. cash discount. When you have Bank Coupons to the amount of one dollar, the bank named hereon will accept the Han k Coupons same as cash when presented for deposit on your savings account properly attached to our Savings Certificate, as per directions thereon.

If there is not a bank in your town (or city) conducting our system of savings ac count send the Savings Certificate by registered mail to the bank named on the front of this Bank Coupon Check.

MERCHANTS PROFIT-SHARING Conrona'rron, STAMFORD, CONN.

The coupons may be arranged in any convenient manner, in book or pad form. In the arrangement shown in Fig, 1, they are assembled to form the leaves of a book and secured to a stub portion 11 thereon. In the present instance, means are provided to facilitate their ready detachment, such means represented by a line of perforations 12. Similarly, a longitudinal line 13 and a vertical line 14 of these perforations extending between the bank coupon checks, divide the page into readily detachable coupons.

Another form of arrangement of the coupons is shown in Fig. 2, wherein the bank coupons, or stu'b portions of the bank coupon checks are aggrouped in the center of the pa e in such a manner that the oblique lines o perforations? between the stub and the body portion of each coupon form a square in the center of each page which is intersected by the lines of perforations 13 and 14.

In conjunction with the profit sharing coupon just described, there is provided, as a component thereof, a deposit or savings certificate, forms of which are illustrated in Fi s. 4 and 5. This may be in the form of a k, pad, or other convenient arrangement, 2. single sheet 14' being here illustraded to describe its principles. These sheets bear upon their surface in some con- J v'cnient location designations 15 representhip the unit of values of bank coupons to be placed thin-eon, the scheme being to have only coupons of like valuation upon each page. These designations as represented in Fig. 4. are as follows:

Important. Only place 53 coupons on this sheet.

The pages may likewise be identified by further identifications to distinguish the values of the coupons and for this purpose there is provided a further designation 15 in the present instance corresponding to a color and consisting of the word red or yellow, as they may have been selected to represent different money values of the coupons. It is customary to have the coupons printed in colors corresponding with these designations, and coupons of this color only placed upon the sheet which bears such designation.

Each sheet is divided by vertical lines in and horizontal lines 17 into squares which are in turn further subdivided by lines 18 extending diagonally across the squares and intersecting to form triangular spaces 19. These spaces, when so subdivided, are of the approximate size and shape of the bank coupon or detachable portion of the bank coupon check;

Each bank coupon represents a unit of a deposit or savings certificate and when the spaces 19 have been completely filled on a pageby bank coupons, the page becomes a certificate of deposit of a redetermined value and is acceptable by a ank or a central distributing agency as a cash deposit for its face value.

The profit sharing coupons are dispensed from a central agency such as a bank, to merchants, who in turn, issue them to their customers in denominations representing discounts on purchases. The customer tears the bank coupon portion from the bank coupon check, thus canceiin." the latter, and inserts the coupon in one of the s )aces 19 on the savings certificate sheet whlch bears a corresponding value designatiorn When the spaces on this certificate are filled, it becomes a deposit certificate of the value indicated and may be deposited with the bank as cash.

It will be seen from this description that the present invention produces a profit sharmg c'oupon which is simple, easily understood, and which induces cash purchasing and saving. While it has been described in relation to the embodiment herein shown, it will be understood that I do not wish to limit myself to the precise form of this disclosure, as many changes may be made in construction and arrangement of the parts without departin from the scope of the invention or sacri cing its chief advantages.

What I claim is:

1. A bank coupon savings certificate comprising a bank coupon check, a con on carried t ercby and detachable from t e bank coupon check, an element provided with spaces in which the coupons may be aggrouped, said element constituting a banka'ble certificate of predetermined value when the spaces thereon are filled with coupons and said coupon bearing characters designating a currency value representing a discount or a sale, and said bank coupon check constituting a recei t for a urchase when the cou n is detac ed there rom. A ank coupon savings certificate comprlsmg a bank coupon check, a bank coupon carried thereby and forming a detachable angular portion of the check, an element provided with markin s constituting spaces to accommodate a pr etermined number of the angular coupon ortions of the check and constitute a ban able certificate of a predetermined value when the spaces are led with coupons, said bank coupon having characters designating a currency value representing a discount on a sale, and said bank coupon check constituting a receipt for a urchase when the coupon is detached there mm.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

NELSON R. J ESUP. Witnesses:

Anon-H V. SAGKRISON, SAMUEL YOUNG- Goplee 0! till! patent may be obtained for Ive cent! each, by elldreulng the "Commissioner of ratentl, Wellington, 1!. 0. 

